Cloud Computing

1.Slide Note: The movement of infrastructure of Regional Gardens to cloud will be advantageous as cloud offers a number of benefits to the business. The cost of update of the existing infrastructure is high and therefore the Board has decided to move to cloud. The presentation will outline the different benefits of the cloud and will suggest the best infrastructure for Regional Gardens.

Slide Note: Cloud computing is a process of providing an unified IT system and various services including software development platforms, storage and software. The IT services delivered with the help of cloud computing is retrieved from internet with the help of different web based tool and applications. However, it is essential to choose a particular cloud architecture according to the requirement.

Slide Note: Many business organizations are adopting clod computing as it offers a number of benefits. The main benefits of using cloud computing is that it provides option for secure data storage and easier data accessibility. The data stored over cloud can generally be accessed with the help of a web browser.

Slide Note: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are the three major architectures that can be considered by Regional Gardens. Choice of a particular infrastructure will be based on the requirements of the Regional Gardens. In order to do so, the characteristics of all the three architectures are needed to be evaluated.

Slide Note: Infrastructure as a service or IaaS provides virtualized resources including the hardware, storage and servers for storing an accessing the data from cloud. This is the most secure infrastructure solution. In this approach, the client does not need to buy a new infrastructure but can leverage the infrastructure provided by the cloud vendor.

Slide Note: Platform as a Service is a computing model that provides a secure platform for deploying cloud. The platform is delivered by the third party provider that delivers software and hardware tools for cloud deployment. It is a cost effective solution in comparison to IaaS.

Slide Note: Software as a service or SaaS is a licensing and delivery model of cloud services that is licensed on a subscription basis. In this approach, the client need not install and maintain a software for accessing the cloud services but can access the same with the help of internet. Therefore, it is one of the most cost effective cloud solutions.

Slide Note: Platform as a service could have been the best choice for Regional Gardens, had its architecture not become almost obsolete. The existing infrastructure may not be used by Regional Gardens and therefore, IaaS approach is chosen. Although implementation of IaaS will be costly, it will provide an integrated business operation for Regional gardens. The staffs can easily access the data stored in public IaaS with the help of internet and a web browser.

Choosing the Best Infrastructure for Regional Gardens

The choice of IaaS approach is done after evaluating the condition of the existing architecture and the need of Regional Gardens. Platform as a service or PaaS is used for deploying the cloud services. This could have been a good option for Regional Gardens if the existing infrastructure was up to date. Instead of PaaS, the IaaS option is therefore chosen or Regional Gardens as it offers extreme flexibility and scalability in storage and access of data.

2.Regional Garden is an organization that is planning to use cloud computing in their business operation. One their first undertaking in their plan is to provide their staffs with the access of office automation system. However, there are certain issues associated with the office automation. Two approaches of office automation are therefore suggested for Regional Gardens after evaluating the needs and the requirements of the organization. The two approaches of office automation are as follows-

2.1. Two Approaches 

The office automation system to be developed for Regional Gardens should provide the staffs of the organization accessibility to the different services such as email, word processing and spreadsheet capabilities. The two approaches of cloud automation include choosing an integrated approach whose back bone will be a Local Area Network or LAN and a cloud approach.

2.1.1. Integrated Approach 

In this approach, the different office automation services such as electronic communication, electronic collaboration, office management and so are connected together using a LAN. Therefore, a local area network provides the backbone for this type of office automation and therefore, it is capable of providing a integrated and automated services to the staffs of the organization.

Use of cloud office automation to align business and IT is very common. Cloud automation can be a building block for integrating all the business operation within the organization. Cloud office automation integrates all the departments and business operations of the organization and therefore, it is a suggested approach for Regional Gardens. Regional Garden can opt for a subscription based office automation system. The cloud office automation helps in digital storage and easy data management to the staffs of Regional Gardens.

2.2. Recommended Approach 

Since the organization is planning to integrate cloud computing with their regular business operation, it is recommended for the organization to use the cloud approach. These services are provides by different cloud providers and therefore it can be easily implemented.

3.Regional Gardens is planning to move their existing infrastructure to either IaaS or PaaS. In order to evaluate which architecture will be appropriate for Regional Gardens, it is necessary to understand the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of each of the two approaches.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

The Differences between the infrastructure provided by IaaS and Platform provided by PaaS are as follows (Kavis, 2014) –

Infrastructure Provided by IaaS	IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service provides an infrastructure and virtualized cloud computing resources over internet.
In this approach, the client can leverage a cloud infrastructure thus avoiding the costly procedure of purchasing an expensive datacenter.
It provides a secure access and storage of data in cloud. Client can access the data with the help of internet and a web browser (Moreno-Vozmediano, Montero & Llorente, 2012).
Provides highly flexible and scalable services to the client
It provides a subscription based service and reduces the infrastructure cost as well.
It is however costly in comparison to IaaS and PaaS.
Platform provided by PaaS	PaaS or platform as a service is a cloud computing model where a third party provides a platform for application development.
It is a platform based service and allows the customers to develop, run and manage the applications deployed.
It provides a cost effective solution for integrating the different processes in cloud.
One of the major benefits of PaaS is that, it involves multiple users to access the data stored in the cloud database simultaneously.
It is a automated resource consuming task for accelerating and innovation for reducing the cost of deploying cloud in the business.

The above table represents the main differences between Infrastructure as a service and platform as a service. Since IaaS provides an entire infrastructure for deploying cloud it is considerably more costly in comparison to PaaS. However, the organization that that already posses a good infrastructure, it is more cost effective to use PaaS (Sefraoui, Aissaoui & Eleuldj, 2012). However, security of the data is a major issue associated with public cloud since the organization is planning to implement a public cloud environment in their business.

4.1. Differences among IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

Regional Gardens is considering the use of PaaS or SaaS to provide services to the employees. Furthermore, it is planning to move its Share Point 2010 Instance to cloud. In order to choose which cloud platform will be better for Regional Gardens, it is essential to evaluate the characteristics of each of the approaches. The major differences between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are as follows (Garg, Versteeg & Buyya, 2013)-

Characteristics	PaaS	IaaS	SaaS
Definition of the cloud approaches	PaaS or platform as a service offers a platform to the client for deploying cloud services in the organization	IaaS or infrastructure as a service provides a virtualized computing resources over internet.	Software as a Service or SaaS can be termed as a distribution model of third party service provider that hosts applications available to the clients over internet (Serhani, Atif & Benharref, 2014).
Features	Provides a cost effective solution for deploying a customized cloud for business operation.	In IaaS, resources are provides as a service that helps in improving the infrastructure allocation and utilization	It provides a cost saving alternative and is easily scalable and easy to use.
Advantages of the Approach	It is easy to deploy as no such technical skill is required in managing and deploying this model	IaaS provides a secure option of data storage. Since resources are provided as a service it allows dynamic scaling and elasticity (Bruneo, 2014).	SaaS is easy to set up and has the lowest upfront cost. It is easily accessible and the client need not worry about the upgrades.
Disadvantages of the Approach	There is certain security issues associated with PaaS (Hashizume et al., 2013).	The customer is responsible for managing the daily updates and the related software patches.	SaaS has a very insufficient data security.

4.2. Recommended Approach

It is recommended for the Regional Gardens to implement a PaaS approach for its business. The platform as a service is recommended as the Regional Gardens as it is planning to move its Share Point 2010 instance to cloud. Since the organization already has an existing infrastructure that can be put to use, platform as a service is recommended. PaaS allows its client to develop run and manage the different business operations. Therefore, it would be easier for Regional Gardens to implement cloud in PaaS platform in presence of its existing infrastructure.

4.3. Associated Problems

One of the major problems associated with the deployment of cloud in PaaS approach is the data security (Almorsy, Grundy & Müller, 2016). Apart from this, if the staffs are not properly trained about the different operations, major problems might arise in data handling. Apart from this the downtime for technical difficulties are comparatively higher in comparison to SaaS approach.

The existing infrastructure is to be moved to the cloud storage and therefore, the process of data migration to cloud can be complex. Regional Gardens need to ensure proper data transfer to the cloud to maintain the normal operation of the organization. Apart from this, there is a very less control of data on PaaS approach, which is another major problems or issue associated with this system 

References

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